195K Signatures and Counting for Ulbricht

SilkRoadfounderRossUlbrichtalreadyspentsixyears in prison and has 34 years and twolifesentences to go unless a petitioncreated by his mother and sister lead to a grant ofclemency.

A petitiontrying to free SilkRoadfounderRossUlbrichtisgotalmost 200,000 signaturesalready. Ulbrichtiscurrentlyserving a 40-year sentence on top of a twolifesentencesfor his role as theleader ofthedefunctdarkwebwebsiteSilk Road.

Ulbrichtisonlysixyearsinto his sentence and his motherLynUlbrichtrecentlyattended a blockchain conference in Toronto to defendher child.

Mrs. Ulbrichthopesthatifshecollectsenoughsignatures, President Donald J. Trump will grant her son clemency.

A numberofpoliticians and moviestarshavealsoexpressedtheirsupport forRossUlbricht.

According to Mrs. Ulbricht, Rossis not a bad person, anidealist, and also a libertarian. Shesaid:

“I didn’tthinkofhim as someonewhowasinterested in technology persay, but he wasinterested in Bitcoin because he was a freedomguy. He worked on the Ron Paul campaign. He was very interested in Bitcoin as a means to monetaryfreedomforpeople.”

TheAudacityof Hope

Both Mrs. Ulbricht and Ross’ssisterCally are hopingthattheChange.orgpetitionwill set him free, and nothingwould make themhappierthan to havetheir son and brother home for his 36th birthday.

Rossalsoseems to bewishingforthesameoutcome and a recenttweet of a handwritten note shows his desire to “turn 36 in freedom”.

President Trump CanSavetheDay

It’s hard to tellwhetherthepossibilityofUlbrichtattainingfreedom in thenearfutureispossibleor not. Fortunately, President Donald Trump has proven to bededicated to prisonreform and a numberofconvictedcriminalshaveseentheirsentenceschangeorhavereceivedpardonsfromthewhite house.

Trying to convince Donald Trump to getUlbricht’s sentence vacatedcouldbethe last stop as the U.S. SupremeCourtchosenot to hear Ulbricht’s case for appeal in June 2018.

Placingallofone’s hope in President Trump could lead to disappointmenthowever, becausethe President previously has tweeted his dislikeforcryptocurrencies.

Trump isclearly not a fanofcryptocurrencies and linkstheir use withcriminalactivity.

“…ifitweren’tforRoss and his vision, very fewpeoplewouldhaveheardof Bitcoin and many ofthepeoplewouldhaveheardof Bitcoin and many ofthepeoplewhohavebecomewealthywould not bewealthyif not forRoss. I’maskingthempleasedon’tforgethim. He helped make thispossible and nowweneedyour help.”